Mementos of Rev. Edward Payson

Front matter

J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.?

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UNITED STATES OP ^AMERICA. J

Preface

Although Edward Payson has been sleeping in the sepulcher nearly half a century, he is still held in veneration by many as a Christian minister of deep devotion, intense earnestness, and unfaltering fidelity. His name to such is yet fragrant, and awakens devout gratitude to God that such a man ever lived, as a model of the true minister, and as an illustration of the Spirit and Power of vital Christianity.

But there are others whose impressions of this remarkable man have, by the lapse of years, become indistinct ; and others still, belonging to a new generation, who are without any knowledge of him. It is most desirable, therefore, that one whose character was so pure, and whose ministry was so full of evangelical teaching, and fraught with such marked results, should be kept before the Christian public.

The last edition of his works, published in 1849, being exhausted, there only remains an Abridged Memoir published by the American Tract Society. I am obliged to R. W. W. Rand, Publishing Secretary of that Society, nephew of Dr. Payson, for his cordial concurrence with my work. From this memoir, together with the original biography, I have gathered the facts relating to the Life and Character of Dr.

4 Preface.

Payson as recorded in the following sketch, and have, to some extent, presented those facts in the language of the biographer.

In a careful reading of Dr. Payson's Works, embracing his Letters, Diary, and Sermons, I have found very many diamonds of truth burnished into " excessive brightness " by the power of his vigorous intellect and vivid imagination, and have put them in this casket.

Among these selections the minister will find seedthoughts for the pulpit ; the parent, instruction and admonition ; the young, earnest counsels ; the impenitent, solemn warnings ; and the Christian, such views of God and Christ and heaven as cannot fail to inspire the soul with faith, hope, and love.

E. L. J.

Introduction

I have consented, by request of my highly esteemed friend and neighbor, the Rev. E. L. Janes, to write a few paragraphs introductory to a work, the parts of which have been selected and arranged by himself, designed as a memorial of the late Rev. Dr. Edward Payson. But for my unwillingness to decline the request of a friend, I might find a reasonable apology for not attempting this service in the fact that I had no personal knowledge of Dr. Payson beyond what I gathered from hearing from him a single sermon. While I was a student in Yale College — I think it was in 1811 — I distinctly remember its being noised abroad one evening that Mr. Payson, of Portland, was to preach in one of the Congregational churches, and my curiosity was so much excited by his high reputation that I went to hear him. I remember nothing of the sermon, but I was greatly impressed by the solemn earnestness of the man, and all that I have read and heard of him since has been in harmony with the impressions which I then received. Though I was his contemporary in the ministry for eight years, I do not remember that we ever met

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during that period, though his name was as a household word among the ministers of New England.

It is the glory of a good man that his usefulness survives him. The influence for good which he has exerted continues to move on, often in nameless and invisible channels, and sometimes receives a fresh impulse from the co-operation of those who revere his memory. Dr. Payson, during his life, was doubtless among the most earnest and faithful of our American clergy ; and, as the result of his labors, it is safe to presume that he is wearing a bright crown among the ransomed. But the influences which he originated are still at work, and are destined to continue indefinitely ; and it is matter of joy that those are found, even beyond the denomination with which he was connected, who are more than willing to labor to perpetuate them. Dr. Payson's publications, during his life-time, were only a few occasional sermons or addresses, which, though written with uncommon power, and greatly admired wherever they were read, were essentially ephemeral, and quickly passed away. But after his death these were all republished, and about twenty years since three large attractive volumes appeared, the first containing a Memoir of his Life, by the Rev. Asa Cummings, and the second and third, nearly one hundred of his own sermons. These volumes have had a wide circulation, and it is understood that the edition is now

Introduction. 7

quite exhausted. The Rev. E. L. Janes, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, having been deeply impressed by the reading of this work, including the Life as well as the Sermons, and feeling that both are too precious to pass into oblivion, while there is little prospect that they will come to another edition in their present form, has furnished the accompanying outline of his history, and what he deemed the most striking extracts from his discourses. The volume is one of very great interest, and cannot fail to be rendered attractive, by its novelty, even to those who have read the original work.

With all our admiration of Dr. Payson's character, we deem it proper to state that the qualities by which he was most distinguished were closely allied to certain natural endowments which, if not closely guarded, interfere essentially with one's comfort and usefulness. In his nature there was an unbounded earnestness, mingled with somewhat of severity ; and while his preaching and his intercourse always exhibited the former, the latter was not always excluded. But his heart overflowed with love to his fellow-creatures, and if, at any time, he became, for a moment, restive and impetuous, he was never satisfied with himself until he had made the most ample restitution.

How great a service Mr. Janes has rendered to the cause of religion by furnishing this volume we

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may see from its adaptation to remedy certain evils now very patent in the Church and the ministry. That a strain of preaching, much less direct and pungent than that of Dr. Payson, is demanded by most of our assemblies, admits not of question ; and that not a small number of ministers, who range themselves with the evangelical class, are disposed to meet this ungracious claim, is equally certain. Let this work, on which Mr. Janes has bestowed so much labor and care, have a wide circulation, and we may expect that the pulpit will give no uncertain sound, and that the Church will come up to a higher point of zeal and fidelity. W. B. Sprague.

Flushing, June, 1872.

Part I. Sketch Of Pays03ts Life And Character

Page

Preliminary Eemarks 15

Pay son's Parentage 16

Early Developments 17

Early Literary Training 18

Awakened by the Death of a

beloved Brother 18

An Experiment 19

His Review of his past Life and

Covenant Engagement 19

Worldly Amusements — Rules

of Action 19

Makes a Public Profession of

Religion 20

Appreciation of his Conversion 20

An Important Step 21

As a Bible Student 21

Earnest Praying and Excessive

Fasting 22

Apportionment of Time 23

Impaired Health — Conflicting

Emotions 23

Horrible Temptations 24

Only Pastoral Charge 25

Protests Against an Increase of

Salary 26

A Successful Rencounter 26

Intense Earnestness 27

Zeal and Fidelity Rewarded by

Success 28

Page Rule in Preparing for the Pulpit 29 Influence Through the Press. . 29 Conflict with a Lingering Pride

of Heart 30

Humility 31

Domestic Character 31

Humor — A Specimen 33

Intense Sufferings 33

RemarkablySustainedby Views

of the Divine Perfections ... 34 Demeanor under Bodily Sufferings 36

Last Scenes of his Life and Labors 36

Confined to the Chamber of Sickness and Death — His Triumph 38

Dying Words to the Young

Men of his Congregation ... 40 Unparalleled Sufferings and

Unbounded Joy 41

Last Agony 42

Extract from Pay son's Funeral Sermon, preached by Rev.

Charles Jenkins 43

Concluding Remarks 44

Pa v son — Bramwell — Fletcher — Hedding 46